Ok. It sounds like a mid performance boat would be a lot more fun to
sail as well as something that I might actuall sail more often rather
than revert to motoring every where. With that in mind, are there
many boats that are fairly good performers and something that is still
safe enough to cross the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans? I've also
noticed that the lighter weight boats usually have smaller tankage and
since there isn't a huge bilge to place the tanks, they are usually
placed under the settees and therefore eat away at the available
storage. Tons of compromises aren't there?

I sure like to find something without blisters, no deck rot, good deck
layout, a U shaped dinette that makes into a double, a settee that
makes a good sea berth, good storage, no teak decks, traveler on the
coach roof, cockpit seats just long enough to sleep on, minimum of 100
gal water & 50 gal fuel, no bowsprit, good galley with good storage
and with the ice box not against the engine compartment, head with
maybe a separate shower, fairly fast and yet safe enough to take
anywhere. ......

Damn, I feel like I'm asking too much!!!

On Tue, 04 May 2004 16:55:06 GMT, (Norm) wrote:

Well I spent last weekend down in Seattle - boat shopping. Initially
my wife and I were looking at boats between 36 and 38' but somehow we
ended up in the 40+ boats and of course we fell in love with one.
After we got home, we figured out how much the thing was going to set
us back including maintenance, needed upgrades, insurance and moorage
and decided against it. The boat was a beautiful Passport 40 but it
was old (1980) and needed a lot of work (wood decks to boot). The
work doesn't bother me as much as the expense in upgrades. Boat was
$120K+ and then add a bunch of other stuff on top just to get it ready
to go to Alaska (+$10k) and we were just out of our affordability
range.

Now we're trying to get refocused and once again looking for a well
built sailboat in the 35-38' range that is capable of offshore
passages, performs fairly well (don't really want a slug) & something
that isn't so old that everything needs to be replaced before
cruising. We can put down $60k and still have another $10k for
extras and getting it back up to Alaska. I don't mind taking out a
little loan if the price is up around 80$ for the boat, but I really
don't want to have to borrow so much that I'm tied to the dock and a
job paying the thing off.

Yesterday I was looking at a 36' Cape Dory on Yachtworld, but the
thing has a PHRF of 180. The Passport has a PHRF of 140 and most
people said that it was a slug. Now I'm confused.

Any recommendations on what boats to focus on?